When the thunder and gale finally died down, the ultimate summoning beast stopped moving.
Kitazawa had released it in advance, and compared to its canon counterpart, it was much weaker. Of course, even if it hadn't been nerfed, taking a Composite Ninjutsu: Typhoon Water Vortex head-on and then Lightning Release: Kirin would be hard for anything to survive.
To be fair, among summon creatures this "ultimate summoning beast" was already extremely powerful—just a tier below the beasts of the Three Great Sacred Lands. Its only flaw was that it lacked true intelligence, which fundamentally made it ill-suited to be a summoning beast.
"Congrats on completing the mission," Kitazawa smiled at Tayuya and the others. "You all performed excellently today."
"Does that mean we get a perfect score?" Tayuya couldn't help asking.
"Do you think you deserve a perfect score?" Kitazawa flicked her forehead.
"I…" Tayuya opened her mouth, but in the end couldn't lie. In this fight, the MVP hadn't been her at all, but Tenten and her summon, the Shiromari. If anyone deserved a perfect score, it was Tenten.
"There are lots of summons on Summoning Island. I'll give you half a day to look around," Kitazawa said, waving them off. "We'll wait here."
Tayuya perked right up.
"Kitazawa-sensei, can you at least point us in a direction?" Tenten's eyes slid sideways—smart girl.
"I spotted an eagle earlier. Strong one. Whoever finds it first gets it," Kitazawa said, ad-libbing.
"That'll be mine!" Tayuya clenched her fist.
"Not necessarily!" Tenten hopped onto the Shiromari. "Let's go!"
"Hey, that's cheating!" Tayuya yelped, eyes wide.
The Shiromari sprang away and vanished into the distance. Despite its size, it was still a lizard—surprisingly quick and agile.
"Damn it!" Tayuya sprinted after them.
Thanks to Kitazawa's hint, their target was the island's high cliffs and peaks. Eagles tended to live there.
"Want me to follow them?" Kurenai glanced at Kitazawa.
"No need," Kitazawa shook his head. "With their skills plus the Shiromari, they're fine."
"Think I should find a summon of my own?" Kurenai asked.
"The summons on this island won't do much for you," Kitazawa mused. "Let me think what would suit you."
"I was just asking. Don't trouble yourself," Kurenai said casually.
Kitazawa stroked his chin. He'd actually thought about this before, back when he helped Tenten find the Shiromari. In the ninja world, truly strong summons were rare—you could count them on two hands.
Suddenly an idea struck him: the Second Mizukage Hōzuki Gengetsu's summon—Shin, the giant clam. It could cast a genjutsu called "Mirage," which was incredibly useful; in the Fourth Great Ninja War it gave Ōnoki, Gaara, and the others a real headache.
The problem was that Hōzuki Gengetsu was long dead. Still, the clam had to be alive; otherwise it couldn't have been summoned in the war. Kitazawa thought of Impure World Reincarnation (Edo Tensei): revive Gengetsu, have him summon the clam, then whip out a summoning contract and have Kurenai sign it.
Kitazawa made a face. That method felt… kind of cuckold-y. Ahem.
There was another way: the clam's true form is, well, a clam, and clams like the coast. If they searched the shoreline, they might find it—just time-consuming.
He didn't know Edo Tensei himself, but Konoha happened to have someone who did: Orochimaru. To perform Edo Tensei you needed two things. First, a chunk of the deceased's flesh. In canon, Orochimaru and Kabuto basically went grave-robbing.
Since the Second Mizukage was revived in the war, that meant his corpse still existed. Second, you needed a living sacrifice. Brutal, yes, but you could use a ninja from an enemy village or a felon. People were dying constantly in the ninja world—that condition was ironically the easier one.
The first condition was the real headache. Konoha and Kirigakure had already signed a peace treaty. If they got caught digging up the Second Mizukage's grave, even if it didn't start a fight, Konoha would lose face.
Kitazawa decided to have Gato's Shipping Company and the Undersea Exploration Team look for the giant clam first. If that failed, he'd consider Edo Tensei.
He refocused and looked over at Uzumaki Honoka, who was chatting with Karin. "Honoka, have you decided?"
"I'm going to Konoha with you," Honoka answered without hesitation. From Karin she'd learned how she and her daughter were living in Konoha—honestly, the treatment was amazing.
She could study sealing arts freely, and Uzumaki Rina was head of Konoha's Finance Department, even living with the Fifth Hokage Tsunade. That was inner-circle status. By comparison, Honoka's life in the Land of Sea had been bleak, treated like an ordinary ninja with nothing special. In Konoha, she didn't need to match Rina—just safer and better than the Land of Sea would do.
"Good," Kitazawa nodded. "Then you'll join the Finance Department."
He'd originally planned to have her help run the Heart of the Ocean Jewelry Stores.
Honoka brightened. With Uzumaki Rina leading Finance, another Uzumaki would definitely get looked after. She couldn't help getting excited about the future.
"Is that ultimate summoning beast still useful?" Kurenai glanced at the dead creature in the distance.
"Not once it's dead," Honoka said. "Their plan was to create a summon that could devour and evolve."
Devour and evolve made Kitazawa think of that cursed old meme ad—the giant fish, Kun. "If it worked, it really would be an 'ultimate summoning beast,'" Kurenai nodded.
Kitazawa wasn't impressed. No matter how much it devoured and evolved, could it beat the Ten-Tails?
They chatted as they waited. In less than half an hour, a sharp eagle's cry split the sky.
"What a big bird!" Akimichi Choji looked up, blurting it out. The eagle was huge—broad enough that even with Tayuya and Tenten standing on its back, there was room to spare.
"We're back!" Tenten waved excitedly from the eagle's back. Tayuya beside her looked sullen.
The eagle circled and came down in a slow landing.
"Kitazawa-sensei," Tenten hopped off. "Guess who found it first?"
"Do I really need to guess? The answer's written all over your face," Kitazawa said, shaking his head.
Tenten's grin burst out.
"What's it good at?" Choji asked curiously.
"Being able to fly already makes it an excellent summon," Kurenai sighed. Few ninja could fly, and few summons either. Normal eagles could fly, sure, but they couldn't carry a ninja for long—if at all. A bird this big clearly had chakra; only with chakra could it break its species limits.
"It can channel Wind Release chakra to attack," Tenten said, then turned to the eagle. "Netnet, show them."
"You named it Netnet?" Kurenai couldn't help laughing.
"Doesn't sound very imposing," Karin mused. "Hard to associate that name with a giant eagle."
"The name's not the point," Tenten waved it off.
The eagle spread its wings and lifted into the air. With a powerful beat, it pulled the air around it into a downdraft. In an instant a gale swept the ground, flinging weeds and gravel everywhere.
"Not bad—about a B-rank Wind Release," Kitazawa assessed.
"Besides that, its talons are tough as kunai. If it grabs you, it's no different from getting hit by kunai and shuriken," Tenten said with a smile.
"Overall, a solid summon," Kitazawa nodded, then looked to Tayuya. "And you?"
"Nope," Tayuya pouted. "The other summons just aren't it."
"There'll be other chances," Kitazawa said after a beat. "Alright, let's head back to Konoha."
The group—plus one eagle—boarded a Gato Shipping Company vessel again. On the way, Kitazawa told Gato about the giant clam and asked his fleet to keep an eye out. Since it was a summon, it would be much bigger than normal clams—judging from canon, maybe four or five meters across. Not something you could fit in one pot. In theory, easy to spot; in practice, a sapient summon that wanted to hide would be a pain.
Monday morning, Kitazawa and company returned to Konoha. It was Honoka's first time here, though she'd long heard its fame. One look and she had to admit the rumors were true—definitely one of the most prosperous villages.
"I'll take Honoka to see the Hokage," Kitazawa said to Kurenai, Tenten, and the others. "You all head home and rest."
"So we don't have to go to class?" Tayuya's eyes lit up. Mondays were theory class, her least favorite.
"If you want to go, you can," Kitazawa said.
"I'm not going!" Tayuya shook her head hard.
"Then we'll head out first. Get home early," Kurenai said, leaving with Karin and the others.
Kitazawa and Honoka went to the Hokage's office and knocked.
"Come in," Tsunade set down her papers and looked up. Her gaze immediately fixed on Honoka's red hair.
"Tsunade-sensei, this is Uzumaki Honoka," Kitazawa introduced. "We found her on Summoning Island in the Land of Sea."
"She's really Uzumaki?" Tsunade looked genuinely surprised.
"Hokage-sama," Honoka bowed slightly and told her story. She'd been lucky; on the day of the massacre she'd happened to be away and escaped. Afterward she boarded a ship to the Land of the Sea and had lived there since.
"It's Konoha that failed your clan," Tsunade said solemnly, stepping forward. "From now on you'll live in Konoha. No one will bully you."
"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Honoka nodded. Tsunade's sincere attitude put her at ease.
"I think she should join the Finance Department," Kitazawa suggested.
"Finance? That does fit," Tsunade thought a moment. "Kitazawa, go fetch Rina."
"Sure," Kitazawa said—then had Haru run the errand instead.
"You're both Uzumaki, so working together you can look out for each other," Tsunade added to Honoka.
"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Honoka said gratefully. "Thank you, Kitazawa-sama."
Before long, Uzumaki Rina entered the office. She was about to greet everyone when she saw Honoka and froze for a moment.
"Rina, take her to Finance and get her onboarded," Tsunade said with a smile. "She's Uzumaki too."
"Yes, Hokage-sama!" Rina actually looked excited for once. She took Honoka's hand and led her away.
"How did you know there were Uzumaki in the Land of the Sea?" Tsunade asked Kitazawa, curious.
"Just got lucky," Kitazawa said lightly.
"Lucky? You've found Uzumaki twice in a row." Tsunade blinked. "Any more Uzumaki out there in the ninja world?"
There was one more—but not someone Konoha could touch for now. He fancied himself a god; unless Kitazawa knocked him off that pedestal, he wouldn't listen to anyone.
"How would I know?" Kitazawa spread his hands.
"Having three Uzumaki already is rare enough," Tsunade said after thinking. "I'll chalk up a merit for you."
"Thanks, Tsunade-sensei." Kitazawa had racked up plenty of merit already, but hey—no such thing as too much.
"If you want to cash in those merits, come to me," Tsunade chuckled. "Though it feels like you don't lack anything anymore."
"Funny you say that," Kitazawa said, something occurring to him. "I want the Yamata no Jutsu—the Eight Branches Technique."
"You planning to copy Orochimaru?" Tsunade blinked.
"Not copy him," Kitazawa said. "I just want more options against the Tailed Beasts." That was a lie—he just didn't want to waste the system's reward: the Eight Branches Technique. If he really wanted to fight Tailed Beasts, Wood Release plus sealing arts were more than enough.
Tsunade was taken aback. It was the first time she'd seen a ninja set the Tailed Beasts as a target on purpose. Then again, at Kitazawa's level there weren't many ninja left who could be his opponents. Having anti-Beast options made sense. If another great war broke out, he'd be more composed facing other villages' jinchūriki.
"I'll get it for you," Tsunade said, standing up and leaving the office. Soon she returned and handed him a scroll. Normally S-rank techniques didn't leave the archives, but Tsunade didn't care for rigid rules. Besides, if someone could rob a jutsu scroll from Kitazawa, then it didn't matter if he had it or not.
"You've worked hard. Go home and rest," Tsunade waved him off.
"Mm." Kitazawa took the scroll home. The mission hadn't been that tiring, but home was still better than being out.
That afternoon, he headed out back to practice Wood Release: Great Forest Technique.
Tuesday. Kitazawa met Konan, newly returned from the Akatsuki. He sent a shadow clone with her to see Nagato, while his real body went to the academy.
"Kitazawa-sensei!" Ino Yamanaka all but fluttered over like a butterfly, brushing the bangs from her forehead and looking up at him expectantly. Hinata was a beat late to react, but just as fast on her feet, arriving almost at the same time.
"Ino, how's your Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death coming?" Kitazawa asked.
"Still a bit to go," Ino admitted. "I should have it by year's end."
"Then put Tree Binding on pause for now," Kitazawa said with a gentle smile. "I'll teach you a new jutsu: Ninja Art: Mind Butterfly."
"Is that a genjutsu?" Ino blinked, curious.
"Not genjutsu—Yin Release ninjutsu. In your terms, a secret technique," Kitazawa said, stepping back to face her. "I'll demonstrate. Get ready—you'll feel dizzy."
"I'm ready, Kitazawa-sensei," Ino nodded.
Ninja Art: Mind Butterfly.
Kitazawa formed the seal and raised his hand. An invisible mental shock roared out like an arrow and struck Ino. She jolted, head swimming as if someone had clubbed her. She took an involuntary step, her knees buckled, and she pitched forward—Kitazawa hurried in and caught her, placing a hand on her forehead and sending chakra into her.
"Thank you, Kitazawa-sensei," Ino recovered quickly.
"How was it?" Kitazawa asked with a grin.
"Amazing!" Ino beamed. "If Sakura got hit by this Mind Butterfly, she'd definitely lose!"
"Then work hard and master it soon," Kitazawa encouraged, then turned to Hinata.
"Kitazawa-sensei," Hinata called softly.
"Your core training is still Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms," Kitazawa said. "But carve out one hour a day to practice archery." He handed her a simple bow and arrows—ordinary gear, no different from kunai or shuriken. His plan was to have her learn the basics now; once the Yin Release Bow was forged, he'd give it to her, then figure out how best to translate it into combat tactics.
"Okay, Kitazawa-sensei," Hinata agreed even though she didn't quite get it. In her mind, Kitazawa would never steer her wrong.
~~~
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